Goans urged to back Tibet independence - heading a rally held in Panaji as part of the Tibetan 'Flame of Truth' signature campaign, Yeshi appealed to Goans on Saturday to support the cause of Tibetan independence and to help in ending the region's isolation of more than 50 years - Times of India (2012/08/26)

Corvallis, China, Tibet: Any more twists? - mural on a downtown Corvallis building deploring China's treatment of Tibet, and the shockingly clumsy response it drew from the Chinese government - Democrat Herald (2012/09/17)

Why Canada severed relations with Iran - Canada has surprisingly severed diplomatic relations with Iran; expert says suspension's timing could be related to Canada's Justice for Victims of Terrorism Act, which allows victims of terrorism to sue a country that Canada lists as a state sponsor of terrorism - CBC (2012/09/08)

Nadarkhani free, but Iran's jails hold many more Christians - American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ): Iran has amped up its systematic persecution of Christians over the last year, closing churches, burning Bibles, imprisoning believers, and using threats and intimidations tactics to suppress religious expression; less than 1% in Iran population is non-Muslim - Fox News (2012/09/13)

Argentina, Iran say to talk until 1990s bombings resolved - the two 1990s attacks on Jewish targets in Buenos Aires were allegedly sponsored by Tehran; talks with Iran could anger the United States and Israel yet Argentina is home to Latin America's largest Jewish population - Reuters (2012/09/27)

North Korean propaganda machine turns "We are the world" into Anthem of Death: "North Korean propaganda film shows 'evil' America in flames" - the 3-and-a-half minutue dream sequence ultimately shows an American city in ruins after a fiery attack - MSNBC (2013/02/06)
- do they know the song was written by Lionel Richie and Michael Jackson (both Americans)?

Koreans slap Bill Gates for 'rude' handshake - unless this is a strange habit of Gates, it is otherwise intentional and veru rude, especially when the newly elected South Korea President Park Geun-hye is a female president too - ABC News (2013/04/23)

Singapore PM draws laughs in US speech - PM (in an after-dinner speech to US businessmen): "Beijing residents joke that to get a free smoke all they have to do is open their windows" and "(in) Shanghai, if you want some pork soup, you just turn on the tap" - Boston Herald (2013/04/03)

Real Gucci passing as bogus in Vietnam - turn bogus as they try to avoid the import fees by re-routing shipments through Hong Kong and passed off as Chinese fakes that worth less than $7, yet wouldn't be a problem if they had imported bogus brand-name goods into Vietnam through legal channels - Alaska Dispatch (2012/12/12)

For South Korean men, makeup a foundation for success - painting the perfect face is not unusual in the socially conservative, male-dominated South Korea; South Korean men spent $495.5 million on skincare last year, accounting for nearly 21 percent of global sales - Sun Herald (2012/09/17)

How about banning Steven Spielberg's movies: "Robert Fulford: Anti-Semitism without Jews in Malaysia" - the Federal Territory Islamic Affairs Department sent out an official sermon to be read in all mosques, stating that Muslims must understand Jews are the main enemy to Muslims as proven by their egotistical behaviour and murders performed by them - National Post (2012/10/06)
- the hatred for Jews can also be shown in the government's ban on Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List, calling it anti-German and pro-Jewish propaganda; it is said that Spielberg's movies have since been removed from all Malaysia's screens

Or, teach people how to spot the transexuals: "Malaysia transsexuals lose challenge against law" - Malaysian court dismissed an attempt by a group of transsexuals to challenge a law that bars Muslim men from wearing women's clothes - CBS News (2012/10/11)

In India: "Textbook says meat-eaters lie and commit sex crimes" - the strongest argument that meat is not essential food is the fact that the Creator of this Universe did not include meat in the original diet for Adam and Eve as He gave them only fruits, nuts and vegetables - BBC (2012/11/16)
- it also says that the Arabs who helped in constructing the Suez Canal lived on wheat and dates and were superior to the beef-fed Englishmen engaged in the same work

First it was the whale (see below) and now the elephant: "Trunk talk: Elephant in S. Korea imitates" - in the Everland Zoo in South Korea, 22-year-old elephant, Koshik, uss his trunk to imitate human speech - RT (2012/11/03)

Marcos clothes have no historic value - except for some gowns made by prominent Philippine couturiers - BusinessWeek (2012/09/24) - yet 800 pairs of Imelda's heels (I heard there were some 3000 pairs in total) are in display at the presidential palace – a new tourist attraction

I really don't know you can be decorated for this: "South Korea decorates Psy for 'Gangnam Style' success" - the Okgwan Order of Cultural Merit, one of the highest cultural honours, awarded to Park Jae-Sang for "outstanding meritorious services" to the arts - Google News (2012/11/06)

It's getting everywhere: There's even a version for Mitt Romney during the 2012 presidential election in the U.S.

FOSSIL & HISTORICAL RELICS

Indonesia's top five hominid fossil sites - Trinil, Ngandong, Mojokerto, Sangiran, and, the latest, Flores, where an unusual collection of fossils, dating to just 17,000 years old, were found to belong to a small-brained hominid, the "Hobbit" or teachnically a new species, Homo floresiensis, that stood less than four feet tall and weighed less than 70 pounds - Smithsonian Magazine (2012/09/10)

KCNA: "Lair of King Tongmyong's unicorn reconfirmed in DPRK" - archaeologists of the History Institute of the DPRK Academy of Social Sciences have recently reconfirmed a lair of the unicorn rode by King Tongmyong, founder of the Koguryo Kingdom (BC 277-AD 668) which proves that Pyongyang was a capital city of ancient Korea as well as Koguryo Kingdom - KCNA (2012/11/29)

Philippines gears up for battle over reproductive health bill - a country of 96 million people and with the second highest teenage pregnancy rate in south-east Asia; number of babies born to teenage mothers has risen from 39 to 54 for every 1,000 births in past five years; under the new but controversial reproductive health bill free contraceptives and information on family planning will be available through government health centres, and comprehensive reproductive health classes will be held in schools yet more than 80% of Filipinos are devout Catholics and the Roman Catholic church has accused the bill's supporters of condoning abortion, which is illegal - Guardian (2012/09/07)

Vietnam to free 900 sex workers - since July sex workers are no longer sent to compulsory rehabilitation centres when picked up by the authorities but were fined up to five million dong ($240 dollars) instead - Independent Online (2012/10/11)

South Korea's porn fight "like shovelling in a blizzard" - unlike most developed nations, pornography is illegal in South Korea, though it remains easy for its tech-savvy population to find – and volunteers, called the Nuri Cops, help government censor by patrolling the internet for pornography in their spare time - The Australian (2012/12/10)

Sanofi-Aventis dengue vaccine less effective than hoped - Sanofi-Aventis's dengue vaccine proved far less effective than hoped in a clinical trial in Thailand; unable to protect against one type of dengue virus, which is prevalent in Thailand at the time of the study - Chicago Tribune (2012/09/10)

Meanwhile, in Vietnam: "Vietnam to replicate Cairns dengue project" - mosquitoes infected with the 'wolbachia' bacteria, which blocks the spread of the Dengue virus, to be released into communities - ABC News (2012/10/18)

Indonesia's reported diabetes cases spike - cases increased over last three years by 4 times; estimate says three out of every 1,000 Indonesian children are diabetic; but only 40 endocrine pediatricians - Jakarta Globe (2012/11/08)

India tops world diabetes sufferers list - with more than 347 million people suffer from diabetes worldwide, India is among the list of top five countries with the most diabetes sufferers in 2009; the top 5 were: India 50.8 million, China 43.1 million, USA 26.8 million, Russia 9.6 million and Brazil 7.6 million - The Hindu (2012/11/14)

India's public health system has collapsed: Jairam Ramesh - social safety net failed to extend for the poor when 70 per cent of spending on health was out of people's own pockets, making it the single most important reason for indebtedness in rural areas - Hindustan Times (2012/11/16)

Indonesia's child smokers on the rise - two-thirds of Indonesian males over 15 years old smoke with a seven-fold increase in the number of young children smoking in less than a decade - Jakarta Globe (2012/11/21)

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